INSYNCH
‘GO FOR IT’
MALES FINDING TRACTION ON SYNCHRONIZED SKATING TEAMS
by LESLIE GRAHAM
Synchronized skating is often defined as a team of eight to 20 athletes that skate across the ice in perfect unison. Te team is dressed the same, with hair done the same way, so as to not draw attention to one skater over another during its performance.
Tis skating discipline is unique as it does
allow both men and women to compete on the same team. While teams have a majority of fe-
Brendan Sapato and Western Michigan University skated to an “Orange is the New Black” theme last season.
male skaters, each year more young men are find- ing they too can take the ice with a synchronized skating team and compete in the fastest-growing discipline within U.S. Figure Skating. Douglas Ober, 21, is a member of the Team
Excel senior team. A student at Boston Universi- ty and a member of its intercollegiate team, Ober began skating at age 5 after his parents thought it would be a good idea for him to learn how to
The coaches have been creative in incorporating Alex DiCola into their theme and choreography.
skate. Once his sister, Claire, became a member of the Precisely Right synchronized skating pro- gram, Ober joined shortly thereafter. “Te most rewarding part is unlike in
singles, where you’re competing against your friends, you’re competing with your friends in synchro,” Ober said. “Te friends and the team bonds you share are things that do not disappear. Indeed, I have met my best friends through syn- chronized skating, even though we haven’t skated together for a few years.” Alex DiCola, 18, is a member of the Men-
tor Ice Diamonds intermediate team. After starting skating at 4 years old, he didn’t join the synchronized skating team until he was 15. Alex is a competitive singles skater, having qualified for sectionals in novice men in 2014; he joined the team when they were looking for a few more skaters to meet the minimum number of skaters required for an intermediate team: 12. “Te feeling is anything but exclusion,” Di-
Douglas Ober followed his sister, Claire, into synchronized skating.
Cola said. “Once the team starts to bond after the first practice, you start becoming a family.” Brendan Sapato, 19, is entering his sopho-
more year at Western Michigan University, but began synchronized skating at 10 years old.
56 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015
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